India ranks a dismal 73rd out of 74 nations in PISA.

@Kchitij2007 Now I know Tamil Nadu is proud of its educational scene.....

@Kchitij2007 many countries may have fared worse than India and in expecting bad results, they declined to enter. India has accepted its need to improve which should be highly praised.

Arthur the test is a voluntary one. You have to choose to be in it. Like after taking the test in 2011, India sat out of them just to save itself the humiliation again. These scores are of that period only and just came to my knowledge now. Also, only two states of India were allowed to take the test- Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

I guess i agree with you there and the fact that we need to overhaul this system in a very fundamental manner. Its just that, this is such a huge task that no politician or even Boards ( ICSE, CBSE, etc ) are up for it! Things are easier for them to continue the way they are and i find that dismaying. Quick changes are needed if we are to remain competitive on a global level.

@Kchitij2007 We are competitive. We are producing engineers to the IT hub in America. They trust the Indians more as Indians are considered hard workers. Primary is not a benchmark to measure. As my sister bloomed after her schools. Now she is even selected for national level student research program! Can you believe! I couldn't imagining her primary level !!

@mkrnex Wow! That is great news! Our best wishes to her.

That is because you are not a teacher, you don't need to be able to solve them. But only 4% of wanna-be teachers pass the Teacher Eligibility Tests ( TETs ). IF you have the future of 240 million school children at hand. This is the quality of staff that is entrusted to deliver?

@Kchitij2007 Actually we should not bother about this rank for the simple reason what one learns in schools is mere mugging. Today's students are exposed to so much outside of classrooms. In a few years' time the entire approach to schooling will change and it should. Those who are shining as you have mentioned in your post have had access to more than what they learnt in school. Indians are an intelligent lot. What is lacking is the contents in a syllabus which is boring to say the least. Children should have fun learning and not wait for the bell to ring.

good idea @allknowing! just that i didn't see fellow myLotters doing it in their discussions so never did it myself. Will do so now

@allknowing I wish that were true, but there are students everywhere that get bored ( i know i did ) still there is a level beyond which your knowledge should not fall under any circumstances. What's the point of being a 10th grade student if you can't even solve 5th grade sums? Just because you were bored of studies? For whatever reasons, we bettered just Kyrgyzstan! For a nation boasting of a 7.5% GDP gr and aiming to be a super power some day. This is a damning analysis of its future generation. Our teaching standards, the whole edu system needs to change. Fast!

Teacher problem- after the last pay commission there salaries haven't been that bad, also i am not talking about Ph.D. profsm i'm talking about simple primary grade teachers who aren't able to solve Class V problems! What are they doing teaching? 1 out of 4 teachers in India is on leave and 1 in 2 is found not teaching! 4% clear the TETs! The sample size and other parameters are properly controled for each country that is the reason PISA has gained the trust and recognition that it has. Again, we are not comparing top students of Univs and IITs, IIMs ( they form a negligent fraction of the total student pop ). Plus, you are just telling what the problem is that we need to address in the first place! Ofcourse we are low on quality, that's why we lost so horribly! 75 nations took the test, do you think they all had their mother tongue as English? Does that mean we are better at it than just Kyrgyzstan ( which came 75th )? Plus, the test is based on the basics of the standard ( or maybe even lower to compromise for the lack of it being an official language ) the children are in and therefore you are required to know at least that much right? But still no, we don't. School haters? is there even such a thing? How are we then to take on the world if we haven't been able to imbibe in our children the essence and importance of schooling? TN kids are supposed to be smart ( like all south indians , ISRO is full of them ) yet we came 73rd in science ( HP came last! ) and 74th in Maths. Nothing can be the excuse for such deplorable performance. Hopefully the HRD ministry will wake up and realize its not new IITs or IIMs that we need. Its the overhauling of the plagued edu system!

Now when @mkrnex said past students are doing good in business etc., I somehow don't find this result anymore important. Yes, education system needs an overhaul, but I would rather not have the shaming be the driving factor behind it. :) That because the country needs better education all for itself, not for some silly competitions.

@hora_fugit It wasn't a competition, it was an assessment test. A neutral third-party, reliable assessment test that is meant to be an indicator on a global level of the academic reach and performance of kids. @mkrnex has cited personal examples. These tests were taken in just two states, not even the worst states were involved ( UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, etc ). Imagine what our rank would have been then. This is meant to be a wake-up call for us. Sadly, Mrs. Irani is too engrossed in opening IITs and IIMs when the trouble lies in imparting basic primary education.

@Kchitij2007 Yes, I have read it but found it hard to swallow!

@SHARINGPARTHA Isn't Truth always is?

There was a TOI report on this in sunday's edition. check it out.